The migration route between Algeria and the Balearic Islands, the longest and most dangerous
In the last five years, there have been major changes: more women and minors are arriving, in worse boats and from further away.
PalmThe migratory route between the Algerian coast and the Balearic Islands is constantly changing. Beyond the increase in arrivals over the last five years, the danger of the journey has also increased; the profile of those arriving, their motivations, and the authorities' response have all changed. What began in 2018 as a sporadic trickle of people crossing from one neighboring country to another has now become an established route, one of the most important in the Mediterranean, through which people depart whose journey begins thousands of kilometers from our shores.
In the early years, the people arriving in the Balearic Islands were mostly from Algeria, men, and usually young people. It was a route that above all served as an escape from the frustration experienced by many of the country's young people, due to the lack of opportunities and freedoms. A time in 2019, when the Maghreb country was also experiencing a surge in protests, known as the Hirak (which means "movement" in Arabic). Protests that Friday after Friday brought together thousands of demonstrators demanding their leaders step aside and initiate a democratic transition. This mobilization was accompanied by significant repression, especially coinciding with the coronavirus pandemic.
![The main entry routes for small boats in the Balearic Islands.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 2363 2251"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
"During the pandemic (2020), the route was very active, especially after the protests. Many families were leaving, especially from the western part of the country heading to the Iberian Peninsula," explains Helena Maleno, founder of the Caminando Fronteras collective. However, she says that over time the profile changed; they began to detect an increase in children and, especially, departures from the Algiers area, which is the usual departure point for the Balearic Islands. "Starting in 2023, the Balearic route became more established. They do so with boats in worse condition, and other profiles are also beginning to appear, arriving from other countries on the African continent," she says.
More arrivals
Two years ago, the arrival of people from West Africa (Mali, Guinea, Gambia, among others) began to become normal. In recent months, others from the other side of the continent, from Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan, have joined the movement. "We continue to encounter many children, adolescents, and women who believe," explains Maleno. According to a report by Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders), last year, 40% of the people leaving Algeria were not originally from this Maghreb country; this year, this percentage has already exceeded 50%. This transformation and change in profile is also due to increased repression, the interception of boats, and deportations starting in 2023 targeting the migrant population in Tunisia and Libya, where they usually attempted the journey.
The increase has also meant the need to create spaces in the Balearic Islands to accommodate new arrivals. "The change in trend has required the provision of new infrastructure and resources," explain sources from the Spanish Government Delegation. In 2021, the former Son Tous barracks in Palma was converted into an extension of the police facilities when more space is needed. Currently, work is also underway to create two reception areas for vulnerable people at the Port Authority facilities in Palma and Ibiza. These are enclosures with modular homes where people can spend the evening while waiting to be transferred by ferry to the Peninsula. Various organizations have reported that some people, including women, have had to spend the night on the streets this summer before boarding.
Most vulnerable profiles
The origin of the people arriving in the Balearic Islands has changed, as has their reason for arriving. In recent months, the number of people fleeing conflict or persecution has increased, which is the legal difference between a migrant and a refugee. This has been particularly evident with the arrival, since the end of last year, of people from Somalia, a country in the Horn of Africa, almost 6,000 kilometers from the Balearic Islands. A route that can involve between one and three years of travel, violence, and extortion by criminal gangs.
"A large part of the arrivals reflect profiles with international protection needs, in a context marked by the difficult situation in their countries of origin. Many of these people are forced to flee due to violence, persecution, and conflict," explains Paula Barrachina, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency. They have also detected people from Mali and Burkina Faso, among others.
According to sources from the Government Delegation, many of these people are welcomed through the humanitarian system provided by the central government through the Red Cross. In the Balearic Islands, they receive initial assistance before traveling to the Peninsula, where they are accommodated in various centers run by humanitarian organizations. "In Mallorca, there is only one center with 44 places, and it is usually full. Once on the Peninsula, the legal teams of the organizations carry out the entire process so that people can apply for asylum," explains Lidia Hernández, State Coordinator of Humanitarian Action for the Spanish Committee for Refugee Aid (CEAR). She explains that these are people who have suffered violence, both in their country and during the journey to reach the Balearic Islands, such as torture or sexual violence.
Increasingly dangerous
The Balearic route is the most dangerous of all those leaving Algeria, the longest, and the one where we find the most disappearances and deaths. In the last five years, we have also observed how the boats they used have become more precarious, are of poorer quality, and the average number of people per boat has also increased: while in the beginning it was difficult to find more than fifteen people per boat, now we can find some with almost double that number of occupants. Precisely, on many occasions, the boats in which non-Algerian migrants travel are the most heavily loaded.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Algeria accounted for the highest number of deaths recorded in the western Mediterranean. A total of 288 last year, "due to a series of fatal shipwrecks, often invisible, off Boumerdes, Dellys, Tipaza, and Oran, as well as numerous disappearances linked to attempts to reach the Balearic Islands or Almería." To these figures, we must add the people who lost their lives in Spanish waters.
According to the NGO Caminando Fronteras, the figure is 517 people who have lost their lives trying to reach the Balearic Islands or the Peninsula. They report that this year, the Algerian route has already accumulated 328 victims, the "majority," they specify, were planning to reach the Balearic Islands.
This year, the number of bodies that have reached the coast has also increased. According to sources from the NGO, this allows us to infer that some of the shipwrecks occurred relatively close to the coast: "It raises urgent questions that need to be answered about the reasons why these people were not detected or searched for in time, despite the alerts received."
![Road sign reading Zeralda, Algiers and Boumerdes.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1024 686"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
"The arrival of Somalis to the Balearic Islands is very serious; it highlights the difficult situation they are experiencing, the lack of closer routes to escape the violence, and the lack of resources," says Josep Maria Royo, a researcher at the UAB School of Peace Culture. The Horn of Africa country has endured more than thirty years of conflict, with international interventions that have ended in failure and a country that "continues in a process of construction and structuring."
"One of the main reasons for the violence is the presence of the armed group Al-Shabab, which is engaged in a war with the federal government, but which has also intensified its indiscriminate attacks against civilians over the last decade. The other major source of concern is the severe impact of climate change, both through extreme droughts and floods. A quarter of the population is food insecure, and nearly 7 million need humanitarian aid," Royo explains.
All of this has resulted in 4 million internally displaced persons, the majority of whom are women and children, who are precisely those who suffer the most, whether from sexual violence, forced marriages, or the recruitment of young people by armed groups. Somalia is also surrounded by conflicts, such as the wars in Sudan, South Sudan, and Yemen.
